


Just In Time

by blackash26



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU - Comicverse, Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen, His Mother was a Time Lady, Minor Character Death, Tim is a Time Lord, brief thoughts about suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-13
Updated: 2013-02-13
Packaged: 2017-11-29 03:59:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/682516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackash26/pseuds/blackash26
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It wasn't time yet.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just In Time

It was a gift from his mother.

Or at least, that’s what Tim told himself when he remembered he had it. But he could not actually recall her giving it to him. He’d just always had the old thing. Sometimes he thought he must have been born with it in his hand.

_That_ was nonsense, of course.

Regardless of whether or not it was a gift, it always did make him think of his mother. Perhaps it was because of the strange half memory he had of watching her stare pensively at a broken old pocket watch. A watch that looked startlingly similar to his own.

She had been sitting in front of the vanity in her room, her bag lying half packed on the bed. Tim had been young. Very young. He remembered wandering into the room and sitting at his mother’s feet. She hadn’t noticed his arrival.

“Mama,” he had said and tugged at her skirt. He had to pull over and over again before she finally looked up from the watch. When she did, she had the most peculiar look in her eyes.

“I have to go,” she said as she slipped the chain holding her pocket watch around her neck. “I have to find it.” She brushed away his clinging hands, got up, and began throwing things into her suitcase.

“What? Mama, why?” Tim was still young enough that he had yet to stop asking his parents why they always left.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know. Something is missing and I don’t know what it is.”

Within half an hour his mother had disappeared out the front door, his father trailing behind her with a determined look on his face.

But he was very young at the time. It might have been only a dream.

***

Even if he’d only dreamed up his mother’s matching pocket watch, he hadn’t imagined her constant need for travel. She could not stand to be in any single place for very long, returning to Gotham especially seemed to make her restlessness worse.

His father, in one of the few times they ever talked about his mother after her death, had explained that Janet had always felt like she was somehow  _less_  than what she was meant to be. That she was missing something important and she traveled search of it. His father went along because he loved her.

They had left Tim behind at his mother’s insistence. His father admitted to not understanding Janet’s stubbornness on that subject. He said that Janet had seemed afraid that something would happen to Tim if they took him away from Gotham. Whenever he broached the topic she would start muttering about how it “wasn’t safe”. His father had learned to let it go.

Years after the fact those words offered Tim little comfort. But he understood.

Whenever he stayed the night at Conner’s, he would stare up at the pinpricks of light in the night sky and know he was missing something important too.

That’s why he preferred big cities. In big cities he couldn’t see the stars.

***

Usually he was too busy saving the day to worry about his family history of wanderlust.

It was better that way.

***

Tim didn’t think about the watch very often.

But when he did, he’d take it out of his pocket. He would absently turn it over in his hands and think about opening it.

He never did, though.

_It wasn’t time yet._

That was the thought that would come into his mind. He didn’t know why. He didn’t know where it came from. But he’d find himself putting the watch away. And he would move on.

***

“What’s this?” Bruce asked holding the broken pocket watch up to the light to get a better look at it.

Tim shrugged. “It was a gift from my mother,” he said as he finished pulling on his street clothes.

Bruce handed it back to him with a small frown. “Then you shouldn’t be so careless with it. Don’t take it with you on patrol.”

Tim nodded as he tucked the watch into the pocket of his civvies. Honestly, he’d forgotten he was carrying the thing. He’d be more careful about keeping the watch safe in the future.

***

The conversation quickly slipped both Bruce and Tim’s mind; never to be mentioned again.

The watch went everywhere with Tim, even on patrol.

Bruce had been the first (and last) person to ever the notice the old thing.

***

After Steph and his Dad and Bart and  _Kon_  –

After. After that.

_During_  that.

Tim thought a lot about opening the watch.

He thought about other things, too.

Desperate, stupid things. He thought about fault and loss and long, long drops without a safety line or a someone there to catch him.

He thought about it.

But he didn’t –

Couldn’t.

As bad as everything seemed. As lost as he felt -

_He wasn’t ready yet._

***

And then his world turned on its head.

Bruce was (not) dead.

Dick had given away Robin to an undeserving, homicidal monster.

Ra’s was the closest thing he had to an ally.

Everyone thought he was crazy.

He wasn’t.

_He wasn’t_.

Bruce was lost in time; causing space and time to tear itself apart all around them. They needed to bring Bruce home before everything was lost.

Why couldn’t anyone else see it?

Why?

***

There was too much to do.

He flew around the world, fighting, searching, hoping…

No time to stop. No time to rest.

He never once thought about opening the watch on his journey.

***

Things had been okay.

Bruce was back. So was Steph. And Bart. And Kon.

It wasn’t perfect. But he’d been…content.

He was sad that it was ending so soon.

That his life was ending so soon, spilling out onto the cold floor beneath him as Ra’s watched.

“It was a good game, Detective. But I’m afraid I’ve won.”

The words echoed in his ears long after Ra’s left minutes or hours ago.

Tim was having trouble keeping track of how long it had been. Which was odd, he’d never had trouble with that before.

He tried to pay attention, but everything was slipping away from him. He had to fight this, had to do something. But he was alone and hurt, lying on his back. He couldn’t move; He couldn’t  _think_.

_It was time_.

The thought was faint, but he ignored it. It was  _not_  time. Not yet. He didn’t want to die.

_Time was running out._

Yes. His time was running out like the blood seeping out of his body. It was such a shame. There had been so much he wanted to do, to say.

He wanted more time.

_He could have it._

He was becoming delirious. But his hands fumbled lethargically with one of the canisters on his bandoliers.

_Open it._

His vision was spotting.

He opened the canister and there was his pocket watch, warm and humming in his hand.

_Open it_.

He’d forgotten he had it. That was odd, wasn’t it? It would be nice to hold it one last time.

_Now._

It was getting harder to breathe, but he was still curious.

He remembered all of those times. All of the times he’d held the pocket watch in hands. All the times he considered, but never –

He remembered and he wondered -

Had his mother ever -

What would happen if he –

_Now!_

He opened the watch.

**Author's Note:**

> Explanation: The basic premise of the story is obviously that Tim is a Time Lord.
> 
> No, he isn’t the Doctor, the Master or the Rani.
> 
> Tim and Janet are both Time Lords in this story. They are refugees from the Time War hiding out as humans on Earth. They disguised themselves as humans using chameleon arches.
> 
> Janet was an adult Time Lady, several regenerations old. Her human self was very aware that she was missing something and could not stop herself from looking for it (hence her urge to travel), but was subconsciously afraid enough of being caught and dragged back into the war that she never opened her fob/pocket watch. Her over-protectiveness of Tim stemmed from this subconscious fear.
> 
> Tim on the other was a child by Time Lord standards, barely older than a few decades. He was too young for the transformation, but Janet was desperate enough that she did it anyway. There are some odd effects from this, one of which is that Tim has no idea what has happened to him when he finally opens the watch.
> 
> If I were to continue writing out this idea, it would follow Tim’s quest to figure out who and what he is. Kon would play a big part. (I might even manage to write something shippy between Kon and Tim, but who knows.) Jack Harkness would make an appearance, as would Martha Jones.
> 
> However I haven’t decided yet if I should continue this verse or not. Let me know if you’d be interested in seeing where this story goes.


End file.
